The new TV arrives Saturday so I called BHN (Lake Mary) today to schedule a cable card install for Tuesday. The person I spoke with was adamant that BHN would not install in a TiVo only in a television. I attempted to educate her but I dont think she was listening. I asked for a supervisor and she assured me that installing to a TiVo was no problem, apologized for the confusion and wished me a Happy New Year. Hopefully the install will go smoothly, keep your fingers crossed.

If the installer gives you any grief, feel free to call in and have one of our representatives explain the requirement to him. Keep in mind this is our busiest time of year and the hold times can be high.

Or you can provide the language that our agents would use:
All major cable companies (MSOs) are required by the FCC's 'Plug-and-Play' order to provide CableCARDs to any customer using any UDCR (Uni-Directional Cable Receiver) device on CableLabs list of certified, verified or self- verified cable products. The TiVo Series3 HD DVR product is on this list.

Well, they did it again! This time 2 techs showed up wearing t-shirts with the name of the subcontractor. Before I even let them in the door, I asked if they had the cablecards. Nope, same answer as Wednesday. One said he had asked his dispatcher about the cable cards on the service order, and his boss said, "Don't worry about them, just go ahead and swap the box."

Of course, I was livid. I sent them away and called up BHN and gave the nice lady a piece of my mind.

This time (unlike Wednesday), the rep who answered the phone was very apologetic and immediately went to consult with a supervisor. After a few minutes on hold, the supervisor came on and said she was trying to find someone to come out today with the cards, and would it be OK if she called me back.

After a few more calls from Brighthouse, I got a team of two "priority" techs at the house, who were eager to chat about all things TiVo. They said they had already done at least 7 S3 installs between them.

Without my asking, they immediately checked my signal strength, and finding it not quite up to snuff, went to work on the distribution point out at the curb, and eventually installed an amp in my attic. It took the tech 2 phone calls to get everything activated on the cards, but he made sure everything digital and HD was coming in on both cards before he left.

I couldn't be happier with these two. They were friendly, proactive, and knew their work. I just wish I hadn't had to go through the 2 wasted service calls before they got to me.

I planned to fight for no installation charge and two late service call credits, but the 2nd supervisor I talked to beat me to the punch; he offered to comp one month's service.

That tech was full of it and it sounds like he was trying to get out of work. Subcontracters installed my cards for me and I have BHN. I live in Orlando.

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Well, the tech was running late on Wednesday, and it was near the end of the day, so I could believe that ... except that the same thing happened today when the techs were a few minutes early and it was just lunchtime. And when I mentioned it to one of the BHN techs who finally showed up later today, he commiserated on it.

Maybe the policy is different in West Orange County, or maybe only some of the subcontractor companies are trained on the cablecards.

Well, the tech was running late on Wednesday, and it was near the end of the day, so I could believe that ... except that the same thing happened today when the techs were a few minutes early and it was just lunchtime. And when I mentioned it to one of the BHN techs who finally showed up later today, he commiserated on it.

Maybe the policy is different in West Orange County, or maybe only some of the subcontractor companies are trained on the cablecards.

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Yeah I am in Southeast Orlando, so maybe there is diferent companies that service this area. Because the contractors I got had done it before. Well one guy had, so the other guy was being trained on it. The one guy said he did about one a week and that he was teaching this guy how to do it so he knew how to also. But they were both contractors from the same company.

I called on Tuesday to schedule the appoinment (Brighthouse Orlando - Near UCF).
Told the lady I wanted 2 cable cards, she ask for, I said Tivo, she said no problem. Friday is the soonest. Not a problem.

So that part went easy.

Tech got here right @ 10am (The appt was 8-10).
He left about 30 minutes ago (12:30).

Followed all of the instructions on the Tivo Sheet, twice. He called, activated the cards, etc.

I get about 30 QAM channels, but none of the premium (HBO, SHowtime) or HD channels will come in...

He said that the cards he got were the last 2 at the eastern tech office, so he'll be back on Monday with 4 (2 spares) new ones, as they had 7 bad cards earlier this week... If those cards have similiar issue, I'm gonna have him check the signal, although typlically in the past the signal is fine in my neighboorhood (It's only 5 years old).

I called on Tuesday to schedule the appoinment (Brighthouse Orlando - Near UCF).
Told the lady I wanted 2 cable cards, she ask for, I said Tivo, she said no problem. Friday is the soonest. Not a problem.

So that part went easy.

Tech got here right @ 10am (The appt was 8-10).
He left about 30 minutes ago (12:30).

Followed all of the instructions on the Tivo Sheet, twice. He called, activated the cards, etc.

I get about 30 QAM channels, but none of the premium (HBO, SHowtime) or HD channels will come in...

He said that the cards he got were the last 2 at the eastern tech office, so he'll be back on Monday with 4 (2 spares) new ones, as they had 7 bad cards earlier this week... If those cards have similiar issue, I'm gonna have him check the signal, although typlically in the past the signal is fine in my neighboorhood (It's only 5 years old).

Mark

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Make sure he calls or you call and verify that BOTH cards have the HD and premium set up on them. I had the issue with the paid HD channels (I don't get premium) where they did not have both cards set to receive the special channels and therefore neither were allowing the service. It sounded like a normal thing since when I talked ot the guy on the phone he said right away he thought he knew what the issue was.

Make sure he calls or you call and verify that BOTH cards have the HD and premium set up on them. I had the issue with the paid HD channels (I don't get premium) where they did not have both cards set to receive the special channels and therefore neither were allowing the service. It sounded like a normal thing since when I talked ot the guy on the phone he said right away he thought he knew what the issue was.

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I'll do that when he's back out. Right now not even all the 'regular' QAM channels come in, so something else is up. He called in for hits 5 times...

After 4 hours of being @ my house, I have 1 of the cable cards working. This time 2 techs came to my house (Both contractors for BH). 1 had actually done 2 tivo units before. Most of the time was spent calling the head office and trying to get someone on the other end who actually knew what they were doing.

We never did make any progress till the last 30 minutes, except to figure out that one of the "New cards" was definitely bad, as the Tivo wouldn't even recognize the card when inserted except to give an error.

So to summarize, the tech who had done the 2 tivos before eventually called a Head office tech who actually worked for BH versus there activation people. That guy was completely familiar with the Tivo unit, and took a look @ my account settings and said that the activation people had paired the cards incorrectly, and pretty much ignored the remote techs when they told them it was a Tivo and put in Panasonic (My TV). Once he switched that and sent hits to the cards, one of them started working right away. The other card wouldn't take the updated hits, and is really DOA.

So, that tech submitted an order for new cards (Apparently they are out at the moment in CFL) and they should be in on Thursday and I'll have them come out to install the 2nd card (It'll actually be the BH tech this time).

So, make sure the activation people really pair the unit to the card right, or it won't work.

I am in Hernando County, serviced by Bright House. Do you think they will give me cards OTC, or will I need to schedule an install? They have always given me equiptment OTC before (cable boxes, cable modems specifically). I plan to at least ask when I drop off the cable box.

So final update for me. An actual BH tech came out Saturday @ like 3:30. Handed me 2 cards and said pick one and put it in. Got the HOST ID and Card ID, he called the Head End (Not the activation #), gave them the info, and in less then 2 minutes the other card was up and running. I checked a bunch of channels, and when I said I was happy, out the door he went. About 5 minutes total.

It made the 8 hours spent on the other 2 days look ridiculously easy...

So, once it goes a week, I'll be taking the SA8300 box back in to TWC so I can stop paying $16 a month for it...